HIS TO LOVE

Chapter 2

“I can't believe you forced me into marrying that demon, dad,” Valentina said, with tears streaming down her cheeks. All the guests had left already, now she was having her final moment with her family.

Valentina sighed heavily, trying to control the tears in her eyes, but she couldn't. She had entered into a hole she would never come out from. “You didn't even consider my feelings, dad” she whimpered in pain.

“Feelings?” Don Enzzo Russo smirked. “I didn't train you for twenty two years to think about your feelings.”

“I can't believe this,” she muttered under her breath.

“You are married to him now, so stop acting like a child!” Don Enzzo Russo snapped angrily.

Silence fell across the room, only Valentina's quiet sobbing could be heard. Eleanor felt pity for her friend, she wished she could move closer to her and embrace her even if it was just for a few seconds.

Valentina could feel her feets shaking heavily and she hated it. She hated feeling weak. This was what it meant to be a Russo. Her father's pawn.

She dashed out of the room, tears streaming down her cheeks. She saw Alessandro coming towards her direction, but she ignored him and continued running.

She ran past Eleanor who had gone out of the room to wait for her, “Val!,” she shouted after her, but Valentina ignored her and continued running.

Immediately, she got to her room, she locked it and slumped on her bed. She allowed the tears flow freely. This wasn't the life she wanted. She hated it. The father she once thought would love and care for her, was only turning her to his pawn.

Don Enzzo Russo had always dictated her life, but this was the final straw. Marrying Alessandro Ricci meant sealing her fate in the bloody world she despised—a world where love was a business transaction, and freedom was an illusion.

A sharp knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. “Valentina, open up,” Eleanor’s voice was laced with worry.

Valentina wiped her tears and took a deep breath before unlocking the door. Eleanor stepped in, closing the door behind her. “You have to calm down,” she said softly.

“Calm down?” Valentina let out a bitter laugh. “He sold me off to that monster, and you want me to calm down?”

Eleanor sighed. “You know how your father is. No one says no to him.”

“Then I will.”

Eleanor’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

Valentina straightened her back, determination replacing her despair. “I mean, I won’t let them control me anymore. I'll divorce Alessandro right now!”

Eleanor frowned. “Val, this isn’t a fairytale. You can’t just run away from the Russo family. You know what happens to traitors.”

“I don’t care,” Valentina whispered. “I’d rather die fighting for my freedom than live as someone else’s puppet.”

Eleanor hesitated before grabbing her hands. “There’s nothing neither of us nor anybody can do.”

Valentina exhaled deeply and buried her head in-between her legs, sobbing quietly. “I miss him.”

“Sorry, what??” Eleanor exclaimed, quirking her eyebrows.

“Yes, I miss him,” she replied, her face still buried in-between her legs. “I miss Luca.”

Eleanor moved closer to her and lifted up her chin so she could look at her, “I thought you've gotten over him already.”

“No!” She exclaimed, tears gushing down her cheeks. “He was the only one who ever understood me. The only person who ever made me feel…human,” she whimpered.

“That's enough, Valentina,” Eleanor interrupted her, “You should get a grip of yourself and get over this fantasy you have of Luca. You both can't be together.”

Valentina exhaled deeply, she remembered old times. Just like her, Luca belonged to a Mafia family - Don Enzzo Russo’s rival, so their love was forbidden, but Luca kept fighting for their love until he was exiled. They made him leave.

The thought broke her. She hated herself. He was the heir of the DeLuca, but was exiled because he loved her.

Luca wasn't like his younger brothers who were drug lords and crime lords. He was the exact opposite - quiet, timid but very smart.

“Do you love this life?” Valentina asked her friend, as she tried to comport herself.

“Yes, I do,” Eleanor replied, not batting an eyelid, “Don Enzzo gave me a life when I had none and I'll forever be grateful to him.”

Valentina clenched her fists. She could never understand how Eleanor accepted this life so easily, how she embraced the chaos, the blood, the power. But Valentina wasn’t like her. She didn’t crave dominance or control. She craved something far more dangerous in their world—freedom. Freedom to love.

Wiping her tears, she stood up abruptly. “I have to get out of here.”

Eleanor's eyes widened. “Valentina, no. That’s suicide.”

“I don’t care,” she repeated, her voice steady now. “That's the only way I can escape this hell of a prison.”

Eleanor grabbed her arm. “You don’t even know where Luca is. He disappeared, remember? It's three years now, if he wanted to come back for you, he would have.”

Valentina's heart clenched. She wanted to believe Luca had no choice, that he was forced to leave. But what if Eleanor was right? What if he had abandoned her for good?

She remembered the night before he left for Australia.

***

"I'm still going to keep to my promise,” Luca said softly as they both sat under the mango tree watching the stars. It was one of their favorite things doing together as lovers.

Valentina chuckled as the tears streamed down her cheeks. The thought of him leaving, hurt her to the bones. Just when she thought she had found someone to do forever with, those devils were about to snatch him away from her.

“I doubt if you can do that now,” she muttered inaudibly, but enough for him to hear her.

He pulled her closer, cuddling her to himself. “I'll come back for you, Val, and I'm going to make you officially mine. You'll be my wife.”

Valentina smiled, “I choose to believe better things about Luca,” she replied, looking Eleanor straight in the eyes.

Somewhere deep down her heart, she believed Luca was going to come back and he was coming back for her - for their love.